Staff

Management

Ioannis MAGHIROS

Head of Unit

Ioannis Maghiros is Head of Unit in the IS Unit of JRC-IPTS. He has been working for the European Commission since 1990 on various research activities in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Before becoming Acting HoU, he had been leading a team conducting socio-economic assessment in the area of adoption of ICT and transformation of health care provision. Before, he led a team working on security and privacy challenges with an emphasis on identity-related technologies such as identity management systems, biometrics and RFID.
Prior to joining the European Commission, Ioannis worked for IBM in Greece (1988-1990). He studied Physics in the University of Patras, Greece and holds an MSc. in Computer Science from Birmingham University, UK.

Marc BOGDANOWICZ

Marc Bogdanowicz is currently managing the 'International Digital Economy Analysis' research activities of the IS Unit. These focus on two main areas: the competitiveness of European industry and its R&D system in a global perspective, and the analysis of the Digital Economy itself. He has a background in Educational Sciences and Adult Training, Organisational Sociology and Medical Science.

Before joining IPTS in 2000, he held successive senior research posts in Belgian universities, where he participated in European activities, networks and observatories. His professional interest in the Information Society dates back to 1993.

Yves Paul Firmin PUNIE

Yves Punie is senior scientist in the IS Unit, leading the IPTS research and policy activities on "ICT for Learning and Skilling" and is also involved in projects on ICT for Inclusion and Governance as well as on assessing the socio-economic impact of web 2.0 or social computing. A number of these projects have a strong foresight component.

Before joining the IPTS in 2001, he was interim Assistant Professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and senior researcher at SMIT (Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunications). He holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the VUB on the use and acceptance of ICT in everyday life also coined as "domestication". In general, Yves' expertise is on the social impact of ICT, its potential and use.

Norma RIVERO

(Communications Officer)

Scientific Staff

Fabienne ABADIE

Fabienne Abadie joined the IPTS in 2006. Since then, she has been working in the Information Society Unit, first dealing with the EPIS Project, a prospective study dealing with the future evolution of the creative content industries, foresight in ICTs and policy priority-setting. In 2009, she took the lead of the SIMPHS Project, first focusing on the analysis of the market for Remote Patient Treatment and Monitoring systems (RMT), then moving on to investigating telecare and telehealth, mHealth as well as wellness/fitness applications under the umbrella of "Integrated Personal Health and care Services" (IPHS) from both a demand and supply side perspective. She has gained a thorough understanding of healthcare systems in Europe, healthcare financing and funding, the stakeholders involved and the conditions surrounding the deployment of eHealth applications and technologies in Europe.

Prior to joining the IPTS, she worked for the European Radiocommunications Office (now the European Communications Office - ECO) in Copenhagen for 8 years. ECO is the permanent office supporting the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of the CEPT. As the expert in charge of regulatory affairs, she has been working with Information Society-related issues, carrying out investigations and writing reports on, for example, satellite licensing, spectrum flexibility and spectrum assignment methods. She has a Masters from the ESCP Europe business school.

Luis AGUIAR WICHT

Luis Aguiar Wicht joined the IS Unit in October 2012 to collaborate in projects in the Digital Economy Research Programme and concentrate his research on copyright issues in the digital media, and in particular in the digital music industry. The focus will be on music consumers' behaviour and on the enforcement of copyright on the internet.

Luis received his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Geneva and holds an MSc in Economics, Finance and Management from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He also earned an MA in Economics from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid where he is now finalizing his PhD in economics. The main focus of his dissertation is on the analysis of different public policies and their effects on the performance/behaviour of firms.

His general research interests are in applied microeconometrics and cover many aspects of firms' and consumers' behaviour.

Michail BATIKAS

Michail Batikas joined the IS Unit in November 2012 to work in a team which is investigating Electronic Identity Services and Market Dynamics. He is also collaborating in the SEA-SoNS project, looking at the adoption and use of social technologies by European SMEs. Before joining IPTS, he was a visiting lecturer at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, where he also completed his PhD in Management of Information Systems. His thesis focused on the participation of Catalan SMEs in Free Libre Open Source Software communities from a behavioural perspective. He also holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Crete and a Master's degree in Business Administration (Athens University of Economics and Business). His main research interests are the areas of Innovation Management, IT Adoption, Social networks and Social psychology.

Christian BÖHLER

Christian Boehler joined the IPTS in September 2013. As a member of the E-Health team of the Information Society Unit, he will be involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing policy initiative. He will also be working on the SIMPHS3 project, focusing in particular on the transferability of integrated care models at different levels (institution, local, regional, national and transnational). This analysis aims to identify which dimensions need to be taken into account in defining transferability criteria and which potential limitations may apply due to the specificity of the health and social care domains.
Before joining the IPTS, Christian completed his PhD in health economics at Brunel Universities' Health Economics Research Group (HERG) in London. His thesis was concerned with the geographic transferability of health economics studies using multilevel statistical modelling to assess variability in, and adjust results of, cost-effectiveness analyses conducted across different countries. Before that, he worked as a research fellow at HERG, looking into the cost-effectiveness of physical activity interventions and the prioritisation of clinical preventive services. Prior to joining HERG, Christian obtained a MSc in Health Economics from the University of York and a German Diploma in Health Economics and Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Christian is a honorary lecturer at the University of Sheffield, School of Health & Related Research/Health Economics and Decision Sciences. He acquired previous industry experience in the healthcare sector whilst working for different consultancies based in London and Budapest, focussing on health economics and public health issues, particularly within the context of middle income European economies. He is also a state approved health insurance professional with years of experience from working for a social health insurance company in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Barbara BRECKO

Barbara Brecko joined the IS Unit in November 2012. She is involved in research and policy support on "ICT for Learning and Skilling", contributing to on-going projects on assessing the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER), mainstreaming ICT-innovation for Learning and implementing and measuring Digital Competences.
Barbara graduated at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, where she also did her MSc (survey research methodology). From 2001 to 2007 she was employed at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana and from 2007 and 2012 she was employed by the University of Ljubljana in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Social Informatics department. Her main research focus was evaluation of ICT use in education.
She is co-author of the framework for a standard for e-competent teachers, headmasters and computer operators and has also participated in the development of core ICT competences for e-competent teachers (in Slovenian project e-Education).
She has participated in several international educational studies as a researcher (SITES m-2, TIMSS, PIRLS, TALIS) or as a national coordinator (SITES 2006, ICILS 2013).
She was also a member of a European Commission expert group on ICT indicators in education.
Her research interests are in the field of ICT in education – use of ICT in educational processes, ICT skills, digital competence, digital learning resources and measuring the effects of ICT in education.

Mélisande CARDONA

Mélisande Cardona joined the IS Unit as a post-doctoral researcher in November 2013 to contribute to projects in the Digital Economy Research Programme.
She has a Masters degree in Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and a Ph.D. from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU). In her dissertation, she investigated how firms behave when they adopt Information and communication technologies (ICT) and the effect these technologies have on their productivity.
She has worked as an economist at the Austrian National Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications where she focused on the regulation and competition in mobile and broadband markets, and for the Austrian National Statistical Office in the field of enterprise statistics. Melisande's research interests lie in the empirical study of industrial organisation, and particularly how ICT have an impact on this.

Stephanie CARRETERO GÓMEZ

Stephanie Carretero Gómez joined the IS Unit in February 2012 and is focusing her research on inclusion projects, for example CARICT (ICT-based solutions for caregivers), ConnectIEM (survey of migrants) and social innovation and ageing.

She holds a PhD in Health Psychology focused on ageing (2005), a Master in Clinical and Health Psychology (2007) and an Executive Master in Project Management (2009).

Before she joined IPTS, she was a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at the Polibienestar Research Institute of the University of Valencia. During this time, she participated in related research projects at other Universities: health care at Harvard University (2009), quantitative methods of social research at the University of Michigan (2010), and social network analysis and functional health of elderly at the Institute of Health and Society of the Université Catholique de Louvain (2011). From 2009 to 2011, she also taught courses on research methods, mobility and tourism, and ambient assisted living and long-term care as part of the Official Master of Social Welfare (University of Valencia).

Stephanie has participated in around 70 research projects and contracts at regional, national and European level. Her research at European level was funded by the Ambient Assisted Living Programme, the 6th and the 7th Framework Programme and the Daphne III Programme of the European Commission. She has also given technical advice on long-term care to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment (2011). The results of her research have been published in books (Nova Science Publisher, etc.) and influential journals (Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, etc.) and presented at national and international conferences. In addition, she has been invited to participate in international committees, like the evaluation of the FP7 projects by the European Commission.

She has received several awards (the First Award on Accessible Tourism by the University of Nebrija and the ACS Foundation; the Second Idea Award for young researchers from the Valencia Council, and the Social Research Award from the Juan Gil Albert Culture Institute of the Alicante Council). From 2005 to 2011, she was the president of the Spanish Society of Health and Social Care (SEAS).

Her research interests are focused on social innovation for ageing and promotion of personal autonomy, especially regarding informal care and long-term care, healthy and active ageing, and social tourism for all and disability.

Jonatan

CASTAÑO MUÑOZ

Jonatan Castaño Muñoz joined the IS Unit in November 2012 to investigate the role of ICT in learning and skilling. This research will contribute to the socio-economic study of Open Educational Resources (OER) and support DG EAC's new initiative on Opening-Up Education.

Jonatan has a PhD on the Information and Knowledge Society from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He also has a degree in political science and a master's degree in social research methods from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Before joining IPTS, he participated in various research projects on the use of ICT in educational systems (mainly higher education), including a post-doc project as a visiting researcher at Stanford University. His current research interests include: e-learning, open education, open educational resources, the economics of online education, the digital divide and the link between ICT, process innovation and educational outputs.

Isabel Clara

CENTENO MEDIAVILLA

Clara Centeno is senior scientist at the JRC-IPTS in the Information Society Unit, where she is leading since 2005 the research activities of the Socio-Economic Analysis of ICT for Learning and Inclusion Action to support the European policies that aim at applying Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to increase socio-economic inclusion of groups at risk, address the key challenges of education and training in a Lifelong learning context and enhance public services in the EU.

She has degrees on Telecommunication Engineering and Business Administration, and prior to joining IPTS in 2001, she worked 13 years on the banking business services sector, managing emerging technology projects and providing technology, systems and business strategy advice on the use of ICTs across Europe and abroad, including from her own company.

Martin Aarøe CHRISTENSEN

Martin joined the IS Unit at IPTS in March 2013 as part of the ICT industry Analysis team. He is working on the Prospective Insights on R&D in ICT (PREDICT) project, where he is developing a CGE model for the analysis of the economic impact of public ICT R&D subsidies.

Prior to joining IPTS, Martin worked as Senior Economist at the Danish Rational Economic Agent Model (DREAM), an independent research unit under the Danish Ministry of Finance. At DREAM he was responsible for the maintenance and development of multi-sector CGE models of the Danish economy. He also worked on long term economic projections and applied macroeconomic analysis of new policy initiatives on behalf of a wide range of institutions including the Danish Ministry of Finance, the Danish Economic Council and various Policy Committees.

Martin’s past experience also includes being a Specialist Advisor for the House of Lords, European Union Committee, and teaching positions at the University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School, and Birkbeck College London.

Martin has an MSc in Corporate and International Finance from Durham University and a MA in Economics and Public Administration from Roskilde University. His general research interests include dynamic CGE models, DSGE modelling, applied macroeconomics, and international macroeconomics.

Clelia

COLOMBO

Clelia Colombo joined the IS Unit in October 2013 to work on ICT for Social Innovation and Social Inclusion. She contributes to research on the current use and impact of existing and emerging ICT-enabled (social) innovations for employability, employment and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This research will provide support to the design, implementation and monitoring of social and employment policies.

She has a degree in Sociology and a PhD in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Masters in Research in Social Sciences from the University of Barcelona. Her research interests lie in the fields of public policy research and evaluation, employability, democratic innovation, the effect of ICTs on political participation and public services, political attitudes and the causes and consequences of political inequalities.

Before joining IPTS, Clelia was a researcher at the Public Policy and Government Institute (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and assistant Professor of Political Science at the Open University of Catalonia. Previously she had been Director of the Unit of Analysis, Research and Evaluation at the Public Employment Service of the Government of Catalonia, where she led and coordinated research and evaluation on active employment policies. Earlier, she had been assistant Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Officer at the General Directorate for Citizen Participation of the Government of Catalonia.

She has wide experience in Public Policies, eGovernance and eParticipation fields, in which she has published several papers, reports and books.

Giuditta DE PRATO

Giuditta De Prato joined the IS Unit as a post doctoral researcher in January 2009 to contribute to projects on the economic aspects of the Information Society and on the impacts of Information Society Technologies, mainly focusing on ICT R&D, the software sector, patents and innovation. She has a PhD in Economics and Institutions from the University of Bologna (Italy).

Before joining IPTS, she was a software developer and IT consultant from 1992 to 2005. From 2005 to 2009, she was a contract research assistant, focussing on research activities on local development, evaluation, ICT and open source at the University of Bologna, where she also lectured on macroeconomics and environmental economics.

Paul DESRUELLE

Paul Desruelle is a senior scientific officer in the IS Unit and coordinates the activities of the team in charge of producing the annual "PREDICT" report on research and development (R&D) in information and communication technologies (ICT) in the European Union. The PREDICT report, jointly published by JRC-IPTS and by the Information Society and Media Directorate General, provides an analysis of EU R&D investments and performance in the ICT sector and benchmarks them at world level.

Prior to joining the IS Unit in 2008, Paul worked for several years in the IPTS Knowledge for Growth Unit. Before joining IPTS, he worked at the European Commission in Brussels, first as a project officer for the ESPRIT and then the Information Society Technologies R&D programmes. Paul is an engineer, with degrees obtained in France and at University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A. (M.S. and Ph.D.).

Néstor DUCH-BROWN

Néstor Duch-Brown started working in the IS Unit on 16 December 2012 to carry out research on the Digital Economy programme. His work will focus on the quantification of the economic impact of digital and ICT technologies, including the supply side (productivity, growth and firm level innovation), the demand side (e-commerce, social networks, consumer behaviour, welfare gains) and property rights (privacy and IPR).
Before joining the IS Unit, he was a lecturer in applied economics at the University of Barcelona and a researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Economics for 12 years. His research was oriented towards innovation policy evaluation, analysis of market structure, competition and efficiency, energy and the economics of higher education

Gabriele ESPOSITO

Gabriele Esposito started working in the Information Society Unit at IPTS in October, 2012. He joined the team working on projects under the heading ‘Techno-economic Implications Enabling Societal Change’. He will participate in European research projects on behavioural studies, including a study of people's behaviour in the Information Society, such as their responses to policy interventions.

He has a Ph.D. in Economics from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Marseille), where he studied computational and experimental/behavioural approaches to cooperative game theory. He then joined the European Commission (DG Justice) in March 2011, where he was involved in the preparation of Impact Assessments on Contract Law (Common European Sales Law Regulation) and Consumer Law (Package Travel Directive). In the case of the latter impact assessment, he supervised the behavioural study associated with it.

Estrella GÓMEZ HERRERA

Estrella Gomez Herrera joined the IS Unit on November 2012 to work on the Digital Economy Research Programme. Her functions at IPTS focus on policy related economic analysis in areas such as internet payments, copyright and the music industry, and e-commerce.

She obtained her degree on Economics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and completed her PhD at the University of Granada, focusing on macroeconomic theory and econometrics. Before joining the IS Unit, she did research and taught at the Economic Theory and Econometrics departments of the University of Granada for four years. She has participated at several research projects awarded by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, both at University of Granada and at University of Valencia. Her main interests are in international economics and applied econometrics

Panagiotis KAMPYLIS

Panagiotis Kampylis joined the IS Unit in January 2012 to work on projects related to modernising and innovating Education and Training in Europe, in particular on up-scaling creative classrooms in Europe, in support of the policies of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

He graduated from the Faculty of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and has 12 years experience as a primary school teacher. He also studied Music Theory at the Apollonian Conservatoire of Athens and did refresh-training pedagogical studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Panagiotis holds a Ph.D. from the Faculty of Information Technology, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems of the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) thanks to a scholarship from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation. The title of his Ph.D. dissertation was “Fostering creative thinking - the role of primary teachers”.

He authored and co-authored several books (in Greek) as well as several articles and book chapters (in English) in the fields of creativity, music education and ICT-based learning. In addition, Panagiotis is a member of the board of the Greek Association of the Primary Music Education Teachers (GAPMET), associate editor of the Hellenic Journal of Music, Education and Culture, and a member of the board of experts for the European Music Portfolio (a multilateral Comenius project).

Csaba KUCSERA

Csaba Kucsera joined the IS Unit in December 2013 to work with the employability and inclusion team. He will concentrate his research on the projects: 'Long-term Care Strategies on ICT for Independent Living of Elderly People' (ICT-AGE) and 'ICT- enabled Social Innovation in support of the Implementation of the Social Investment Package' (ISIS).

Csaba
earned both his MA and PhD
in sociology at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. He then worked at the Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he was involved in numerous cross-country comparative studies. He worked on various aspects of ageing, such as quality of life of elderly people living alone, their subjective health, loneliness and social participation, and social support. He also participated in a project that developed a prototype ICT device which supported quality-of-life. His earlier work included working in labour economics at the Labour Project of the Central European University. In addition, he was a lecturer at various higher education institutions, teaching research methodology, public opinion research and theory of social networks, among others.

Bertin MARTENS

Bertin Martens joined the IS Unit in September 2011. He is team leader for the Digital Economy Research Programme at the IPTS, his current research projects revolving around the economics of online trade, copyrights in digital media and privacy issues.

He was previously deputy Chief Economist for Trade in the European Commission in Brussels and carried out various other assignments in the European Commission, working extensively on international economic issues. He holds a PhD in economics from the Free University of Brussels. His research interests focus on institutional economics and the role of technological and cognitive change in economic development.

Gianluca MISURACA

Gianluca Misuraca joined the IS Unit in February 2009, focusing on the research area of ICT for governance. He coordinated the participation of IPTS in the EU-FP7 CSA CROSSROAD – A Participative Research Roadmap on ICT for governance and policy modelling, being the lead author of the JRC Report Envisioning Digital Europe 2030. He is currently leading the exploratory research on ICT-enabled governance models in EU cities (EXPGOV), in collaboration with EUROCITIES. Gianluca also contributed to the research on The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy and he is providing policy support and dissemination at international level. Before joining IPTS, Gianluca was the Managing Director and Scientific Coordinator of the Global Executive Master in e-Governance, organised by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. Previously, he worked for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), acting as Liaison Officer for Africa on e-Governance and knowledge management. Being seconded to the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development, in Tangier, Morocco (CAFRAD), he was responsible for coordinating the implementation of the United Nations Online Network in Public Administration and Finance (www.unpan.org) and the design of the e-Africa initiative for good governance, placed under the banner of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) of the African Union. During his career, Gianluca held several positions as lead consultant and policy advisor for different UN agencies, the World Bank, the European Commission, and bilateral cooperation agencies.

Earlier in his career, Gianluca was a Manager at Ernst & Young International where he provided advisory services in the area of public administration reform and regional development. He started his career as an intern for the European Commission's Directorate General for Development and as a consultant for the APRI Spa – International Research Centre for Industrial Cooperation, where he was also a Member of the "Task Force Innovation" at the Italian Ministry of Research and Technological Development.

Gianluca holds a Degree in Business Administration, a Specialisation Diploma in EU Economics and Law, an Executive Master in e-Governance and he is finalizing his PhD in Management of Technology at EPFL. He has several publications in the area of ICT for Governance and ICT for Development, including the book "e-Governance in Africa, from Theory to Action".

Daniel NEPELSKI

Daniel Nepelski joined the IS Unit as a post doctoral researcher in March 2009 to contribute to projects on the economic aspects of the Information Society and on the impacts of Information Society Technologies, mainly focussing on innovation dynamics in the context of the knowledge economy.
Before joining IPTS, he worked at DIW Berlin, the German Institute for Economic Research, as a research associate and policy consultant between 2002 and 2008. His research interests are in the area of Industrial Organization with a particular focus on Innovation Economics and Competition Policy. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Humboldt University Berlin.

Annarosa PESOLE

Annarosa Pesole joined IPTS in September 2013. She is carrying out research in the field of ICT Industry analysis, focusing on R&D and Innovation. She has an MSc in Economics with merit from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Milan.

Previously, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Imperial College Business School on the EU FP7 project COINVEST, which aimed to measure the contribution of intangible investment to economic growth. She also carried out consultancy for policy makers on social innovation, paying particular attention to employment, gender issues and a new sustainable economic model. Annarosa has a keen interest in the impact and development of innovation processes, particularly open innovation and the ICT- using sector.

Christine REDECKER

Christine Redecker joined the IS Unit in February 2008. She is primarily working on eLearning, conducting a major study on the impact of web 2.0 applications on learning. She is also working on eInclusion, where she is contributing to research on the use of ICT for ethnic minorities and older people.

She has a PhD in Philosophy of Mathematics from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, and a Teaching Diploma for secondary education (Erstes & Zweites Staatsexamen). She has worked as a practitioner of eLearning at different institutions in Germany and Denmark and as a lecturer for didactics at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Her current scientific interests centre on the impact of ICT for inclusion, the future of teaching and learning, pedagogical innovations, lifelong learning, ageing and demographic change.

Nuria RODRIGUEZ PRIEGO

Nuria Rodríguez Priego joined the IS Unit at IPTS in November 2013. She will be working on projects related to behavioural studies which examine the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in transforming society and everyday life, with particular emphasis on digital behaviour.

She has a PhD in Economics from the University of Granada, where she was previously teaching and researching in the Department of Economics. Her background is mostly based in Behavioural Economics and she has a Masters in Empirical Economics and a Masters in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour. She also obtained a degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology in order to explore the influence that culture has on the behaviour of individuals.

Ibrahim Kholilul ROHMAN

Ibrahim joined the Information Society Unit in October 2013 as part of the ICT Industry Analysis team. He is working on the Prospective Insights on R&D in ICT (PREDICT) project.

Ibrahim obtained his bachelor's degree in Economics in 2002 and master degree in Economics in 2006, both from the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia. He then worked for the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Faculty of Economics as a researcher. In 2008, he was awarded a scholarship from the Ministry of Communication and Information, Government of Indonesia, to pursue the PhD program at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Iin 2012 he defended his doctoral thesis “On the weightless economy: Evaluating ICT sectors in the European, Asian and African regions.” During his PhD study, he joined the internship programs at Ericsson Consumer Lab in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in 2010 and at the Research ICT Africa in Cape Town (South Africa) in 2011. Both programs were part of Chalmers Young Researcher Award. Upon completion of his PhD, he got a postdoctoral position at Chalmers in the STAREBEI (STAges de REcherche BEI – EIB) program, funded by the European Investment Bank. In this study, he carried out a research aimed at measuring the impact of broadband speed access and upgrades on economy comparing developed and developing countries. During and after completion of his PhD, he was involved in other research activities for private companies such as Ericsson, NTT Docomo and the Deutsche Telekom.

Ramon SABES FIGUERA

Ramón Sabes Figuera started working in the Information Society Unit at IPTS in October, 2012. He will be working on the Digital Living project, part of the Unit’s work on ‘Techno-economic Implications Enabling Societal Change’. He will be involved in the development of a monitoring and assessment framework for the ‘European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing’ policy initiative. He will also be working on the SIMPHS3 project and a project on benchmarking deployment of e-Health services through a European hospital survey.

Ramón graduated in Economics from University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and then joined the Centre for Research in Health and Economics (CRES) at the same university. He worked there for 6 years on projects that covered a wide range of health economics topics with a special focus on economic evaluation of health technologies. In 2004, he took up the post of Senior Economic Policy Analyst at the Health Technologies Assessment Unit of the regional government of Madrid, Spain. In 2007, he completed an MSc programme in Biomedicine, Bioscience and Society at the London School of Economics. Before joining IPTS, he held a research position for 5 years at the Centre for the Economics of Mental and Physical Health, at King's College London.

His research interests lie in the field of the economic impact of health care technologies and health policy, with a special focus on the impact of developments in genetic technologies on public health care systems.

Andreia SANTOS ESTEVES

Andreia joined the IS unit in September 2013. Her role involves research and policy support on 'ICT for Learning, Skills and Open Educational Resources (OER)'. Her work contributes to finding opportunities and challenges of ICT and OER implementation at a policy level to innovate and modernise teaching , learning and training practices in Europe.

Andreia has a PhD in Educational Technology from the Open University of the United Kingdom (2011) and a Masters in Research Methods for Educational Technology from the same institution (2003). She also has a Masters in Linguistics and Literary Studies in English Language from The University of São Paulo, Brazil (2001). She worked as an OER researcher for the Open University (2006-2011) and has since been involved in several other OER and ICT-related research projects in the UK and abroad. Andreia produced a national report on OER in Brazil which was published by UNESCO IITE (2011). She also acted as a consultant for DigiLearn (2011-2013), focusing on awareness raising and continuous professional development on OER and open education for governmental bodies, private and public higher education institutions and high profile enterprises in Brazil and Latin America.

Cristina TORRECILLAS

Cristina Torrecillas joined the IS Unit in April 2012 to investigate, from a socio-economic point of view, the current use and impacts of existing and emerging ICT-based applications for socio-economic and digital inclusion. She also analyzes the policy implications (opportunities, challenges and recommendations) in the relevant policy areas (Information Society DAE, Skills and Employment, Migrants Integration, Youth, Education and Training and Social Inclusion).

After graduating in economics, she completed several postgraduate courses related to evaluation and quantitative analysis. Cristina started working at the Economic and Commercial Office of the Spanish Embassy in London. Afterwards she worked as Research Manager at both the Madrid and London offices of Ecorys, an international company that carries out socio-economic research.

During her career, she has conducted numerous studies at local, regional and national level, some of which were for European institutions on social issues such as education, immigration, employment and youth. These studies have allowed her to acquire a broad knowledge and experience in design methodologies and analytical tools for qualitative and quantitative research.

Nikolaus THUMM

Nikolaus Thumm started at IPTS in April 2014, where he is working on intellectual property related issues in the information society.

Previously, he had been the Chief Economist of the European Patent Office (EPO) and Executive Secretary of the EPO Economic and Scientific Advisory Board. Before joining the EPO, Nikolaus was a Senior Economic Counselor for the Swiss Federation. He was also Chairman of the United Nations' Advisory Group on the Protection and Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights for Investment, a private-public partnership group. Before then in 1998; he was a researcher at the European University Institute in Florence and with Europa Kolleg Hamburg in Germany, where he had received his doctorate in economics.

René van BAVEL

René van Bavel re-joined the IS Unit in November 2011 after spending 7 years working elsewhere in IPTS as a researcher, policy analyst and team leader (mainly in the policy area of research and innovation). At the IS Unit he works on the social and economic aspects of electronic identity and co-ordinates JRC-IPTS's activities on behavioural economics. He also has an interest in qualitative methodology for supporting EU policy-making.

Prior to joining JRC-IPTS in October 2003, René was a lecturer in social psychology at the University of Cambridge. He has an undergraduate degree in economics from Queen's University, Canada, and an MSc and PhD in social psychology from the London School of Economics.

Riina
VUORIKARI

Riina Vuorikari joined the IS Unit in July 2013. She is contributing to research and policy support in the field of "ICT for Learning and Skilling".Her work focuses on scenarios of "Open Education in 2030" and on the exploratory project "Exploring Digital Science: towards a new modus operandi for science and research in Europe."

Riina has degrees in education (M.Ed in 1998 in Finland) and hypermedia (DEA in 1999 in France). Her PhD, which was completed in 2009, is from the Dutch research school for Information and Knowledge Systems. She has worked in education in Europe since 1999 and her main interest is dealing with issues related to the adoption of new technologies in education. Before joining IPTS in Sevilla, she worked as an independent Project Manager and Research Analyst from her own company based in Helsinki. Many of her clients were based in Brussels, including educational organisations such as European Schoolnet and the Flemish Ministry of Education.

She has served on the programme committees for conferences (e.g. International Conference on Web-based Learning in 2013, Personal Learning Environments 2013, Open and Social Technologies for Networked Learning in 2012) and for various workshops. She has also been invited to speak at events in the field of education and to be a reviewer for research journals on Technology Enhanced Learning such as Computers in Human Behaviour, IEEE Transactions on Education, Computers & Education, Computer Journal and International Journal of Learning Technology.